In present electronic apparatus, electronic components (e.g., integrated circuits) are mounted upon printed circuit boards at a high density. Heat generated by such components are known to create overheating problems which could result in breakdown of one or more of the components. To solve such problems, it is necessary to remove heat from the components. In a conventional manner of achieving this, heat sinks are used which conduct heat directly or indirectly from the components.
In a paper by W. R. Hamburgen entitled "Interleaved Fin Thermal Connectors for Multichip Modules", published as part of the proceedings of the IEPS 1991 Conference, p. 419, at 428 and 429 show various types of heat removing arrangements.
A pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/378,336 "Printed Circuit Board and Heat Sink Arrangement" filed by R. Katchmar on 26 Jan. 1995 discloses a structure in which a thermally conductive adhesive is sandwiched by an electronic component and a heat sink. Heat generated by the electronic component is transferred directly through the thermally conductive adhesive into the heat sink.
In a conventionally used structure, resilient heat conductor elements extend between electronic components and a heat sink to conduct heat from multiple components. A compliant thermal conductor is required due to tolerances and differential thermal expansion. The rate of heat transfer, and the pressure applied by each heat conductor element is proportional to the thickness and length of each heat conductor element. However, the maximum resilient strength of each heat conductor element is limited by the solder joint reliability of each electronic component and this, in turn, places a limit to the maximum rate of heat transfer through each heat conductor element.